Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

Yes! You should put them together in a book! It'd sell really well!
 
Actually books like that have already been written......but I do want to write down the stories, so that is what I'm doing. I have thought about stringing them together in order. A lot of the dogs didn't really have much of a story. They came to us from the humane society or as a stray so we could only make logical guesses as to what their lives were like or what breeds they were. And nice people came forward and adopted them, nothing amazing or fancy, but it did give me the chance to educate the folks about exactly what type of dog I felt they were adopting. We tried to make sure they were all MATCHED to the owners, active ones to active families, mellow with mellow, hopefully the correct environment which improved upon the situation that made them homeless and in need of our help. Many times it was just taking them from people who did not have enough money for their pets and giving them to people who could afford them. That has become more and more common lately as well. But one of my rescue friends summed it up fairly well, "we take them from the bad people and give them to the good people." The trick is sorting out one from the other, from the perspective of the DOG. I felt for our current fosters Ellie and Hanna, a good person is someone who keeps them together as a unit, so that is what we waited for with them. They came to us in January and now will be leaving June 10th, so they will have been here five months. It will be pretty hard to say good bye to them, we are just quite fortunate to find such wonderful owners as where they are going in Montana, never parted, the owner is dying to have two dogs who are well matched, we just know it will end up being the best thing for them in the end, despite the upheaval in their lives and we need to be ready for the next fosters, not collecting awesome dogs. Ellie reminds the hubby so much of our dearest departed ridgeback, so it will be tough for him and I'm not looking forward to that moment, but this is what we bit off to chew and not something we are at all unfamiliar with. We will be ready and waiting for dog number 364 and that didn't happen by keeping the fosters.
 
Things are going pretty well I guess. Having vertigo every morning but I can hear a little better still so it is worth it. Still can't talk on the phone but it is nice to have a little more use from that one side.

I sold a bunny today, the boy kit. He will be a pet as well. Sister (the mom) has done very well for herself. There is no point in butchering a rabbit if I can sell it at 9 weeks for 30 dollars.
I am breeding her again right now. Gramps (the dad) is quite pleased about this but Sister gave me the stink eye. I'm really glad I chose this breed.

I need another cage now because Sister and Daughter are still living in one and so within a month Hubby had better have the new cage built. Nana, the other doe, is due to give birth tomorrow. I sure hope this time she manages. She has her nest ready again, but she did the last two false pregnancies too. This time I used Gramps instead of Junior to see if it would make a difference. But I'm keeping Daughter because I have a feeling Nana isn't going to have any for me. I will probably sell her as a pet if she doesn't have some kits for me with a fourth try.

The new chicks are starting to come around and be friendly. They were NOT friendly with the little boy whose dad bought the rabbit. But I think he had fun coming here to Dizzy Dog Ranch, I brought out Emilee and let him hand feed the chicks. Of course then Molly escaped, wanting attention too, so they got to help me catch her! Sheesh. Goats always want to steal the show. I think the baby chicks were the cutest however, and I still have some that are pretty little. My older chicks are starting to feather out and get real pretty. I hope someday soon my granddaughter will enjoy coming up here the same way the little kids do. She is still only one so is just starting to say the doggies says wuff wuff and kitty says meow. She has seen our goats and chickens and didn't have much reaction yet.
My daughter is appalled we are planning on eating rabbit. Maybe if I tell her they are selling for too much to eat them, she will be relieved. But at SOME point I'm sure I'll have too many rabbits so perhaps I should just let her continue getting used to the idea.
 
Great job on the rabbits. I love it when the animals pay for themselves.

I bought a duck once to cook, just so we could try it. I told my dh I would like to buy a rabbit next.

It helped that over the weekend we had a bbq with friends. One is from way down south Mex and he grew up very SS. He has done rabbit, chickens, pigs, goats etc..

So N our friend talked to dh all about rabbit.

So here may be hope yet.

g
 
Rabbit meat is kinda mild, it doesn't have a lot of flavor on its own. But we usually cook our meat with flavorings and what not on it anyway, and I hate plucking so this is a logical meat source for us.

I enjoy taking care of the rabbits, they are super easy. We have not yet produced enough bunnies to actually have extras to eat. That is okay though, I'm very proud of how well Sister did with her first breeding, producing a nice looking daughter for me and selling two kits, she has paid for herself. So far the rabbit venture is still in the investment stage however but since the hutches were homemade from scraps we don't have much into this except the cost of the feed, although that does add up.

But I really like the idea that if TSHTF we have a meat source out there ready to keep producing for us. I'd like to eventually have enough does to keep us in meat.
 
Well dang it, it doesn't look like Nana is going to kindle today. I guess it is another false pregnancy. I'm fairly discouraged with her, I've tried three times now. I'm not sure what to do about her. She was a show bunny so perhaps I should try to sell her as a pet. But she hates to be touched. She would not make a good pet. I think she would be old and tough and besides, I told the person I bought her from I would not eat her. But I don't really want to feed her if she doesn't produce and it makes her MATE kind of useless too. Although I could use him as baby daddy for the new one I'm keeping, he is her uncle though.

I'm glad I got to sell the other bunny yesterday so that this wouldn't be too discouraging. But it sure would have been nicer if there were babies out there today.
 
if you do decide to nom her....crock pot, rabbit stew is delicious and old rabbit makes perfectly good stewing meat, just let it cook on low allllll day.

the person you bought her from? did they have a sucessfull litter form her previously? seems odd if she was proven prior, could be mabe the male rather than her? however if not, ive got a feeling they sold her knowing she wasnt a good producer, especially given a show history...
 
SD what do you do with your rabbits when it gets hot? It was 102 today and all I knew to do was give them frozen water bottles. I will buy a small fan tomorrow or Friday... what about frozen fruit or veggies?
 
pinkfox, the breeder I got them from has been very much involved in helping me and is crushed that Nana is not producing for me. She had been a proven girl and she was pretty sure I would get some kits out of her. I think it was just unfortunate timing, I did know this rabbit was a bit older. I did try her with both males I have, one did produce offspring with my other doe so that is why I'm discouraged that switching bucks did not do that trick. I believe she sold her to me because of having a huge amount of rabbits and having other show bunnies that were superior. She was very attached to them and I did commit to her that these four will not be eaten, so selling her as a pet is my only option. I think I will try a fourth time first though.

I just started a thread on BYH about how to keep rabbits cool, AL. I need to learn more about it, but I hear you put frozen things in there, like a milk jug with frozen water? So far we have not had to worry about it, it has been so cold. So hopefully I will be learning about that soon.
 
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